Tips for Creating a Professional Voicemail Greeting

Voicemail has inherited a somewhat negative reputation over the past few years, particularly due to Millennials finding it cumbersome, nearly 60 percent of the modern workforce is likely to continue utilizing the service, especially when making business calls. Though voicemail itself has yet to be archived, it seems the art of creating a voicemail greeting has. Your greeting recording is often the first impression certain callers will have of you, so it’s important for it to be just right. If it is too dry, they may think you lack character, but if it has too much personality, they may find you unprofessional. To help you create an appropriate but impressive voicemail greeting, here are a few best practices and tips to employ when recording your message.

Getting Started

The first step in generating an outstanding greeting is to set up the voicemail option on your cell phone. Though it may seem obvious, with so many features available on modern smartphones, voicemail is often overlooked, so begin with instructions for setting up your voicemail and ensure that your professional voicemail greeting is set up at all times.

Cover the Basics

All voicemail recordings should include a few items of interest:

Introduce yourself so that your caller knows they have reached the correct individual. How frustrating is it to call a new number only to be informed that “This person has a mailbox that has not been set up?” Very.

Explain that you’re currently unavailable as concisely as possible. No need to draw this out. You are simply confirming what the caller already knows.

Ask the caller to leave their name and contact information. Many voicemail users like to request the caller leave a brief description of why they are calling and this is especially relevant if you are expecting important news or are job-hunting. Forgetting to request the caller to leave their reason for calling is the most common voicemail greeting mistake.

Add Some Style

With the business part covered, it is up to you to add a little flourish or detail to your greeting message, but keep in mind that your voicemail should be about as long as a Tweet or approximately 20-25 seconds.

Let them know when to expect a return call is one option to include. If you are a professional who’s response is time-sensitive, this option would be most appreciated by your business callers.

Let them know who to contact for immediate assistance is another option for those with shared responsibilities that callers would love to learn, especially if you will not be available for an extended length of time.

Including an intriguing quote at the close of your recording is a quick and fun means of adding a little personality to your message and can help convey your individuality to the caller. Of course, depending on who you plan to receive calls from. you’ll probably want to keep the quote in the PG to PG-13 rating range. “May the force be with you,” for instance, implies that you wish the caller well and have an extensive collection of Star Wars figures, while “Have a blessed day,” suggests a spiritual or religious individual.

Modernized Tips

If you dread the cumbersome process of retrieving voicemails, try out one of the more modern tech advances in messages like visual voicemails, which can be accessed with just two taps on your smartphone and plays the voice message without the time-consuming list of options that follow it.

Consolidation of voicemails, a new tech innovation, gives users the ability to consolidate voicemail when using multiple numbers so you don’t have to remember to check multiple lines for messages, enter different codes of access, or alter voicemail greeting individually.

Don’t forget to test it out for congruency and tone by calling your own number to experience your own greeting. Some automated voicemail recording run for more than 30 seconds before even getting to your impressive individual greeting. The automated message that comes before may also have already covered some of the aspects you mention in your individual recording, so be prepared to alter your message to avoid wasting time with duplicate statements.

Yes, it’s true that voicemail is not used as prevalently as in the past, but it is still an integral part of business communication and of staying on top of your responsibilities. If you have delayed setting up your voicemail greeting, now is the time. Use these steps and tips to create a professional but interesting message for your callers.

Thanks to Fatima